The Great Gatsby F Scott Fitzgerald Nick Carraway

The Great Gatsby F. Scott Fitzgerald

Nick Carraway � “I am inclined to reserve all judgements. ” � “When I came back from the East last autumn I felt that I wanted the world to be in uniform and a sort of moral attention for ever. ” � “the less fashionable of the two. ” � “To a certain temperament the situation might have seemed intriguing – my own instinct was to telephone immediately for the police. ” � “I was confused and a little disgusted as I drove away. It seemed to me that the thing for Daisy to do was to rush out of the house, child in arms – but apparently there were no such intentions in her head. ”

Nick Carraway � “I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time was that afternoon. ” � “They’re a rotten crowd. You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together. � “I found myself on Gatsby’s side, and alone. ” � “After Gatsby’s death the East was haunted for me. ”

Jay Gatsby � “An extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person. ” � Jordan to Nick at the Buchanan’s house - “You must know Gatsby. ” � “He stretched out his arms towards the dark water in a curious way, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling. ” � “When I had looked once more for Gatsby he had vanished, and I was alone again in the unquiet darkness. ” � Catherine on Gatsby - “Well, they say he’s a nephew or cousin of Kaiser Wilhelm’s. That’s where all his money comes from. ”

Jay Gatsby � “I’m scared of him. I’d hate to have him get anything on me. ” � Nick on the guests at Gatsby’s parties - “they conducted themselves according to the rules of behaviour associated with an amusement park. ” � “Somebody told me they though he killed a man once. ” � “He was a German spy during the war. ” � “It was one of those rare smiles with a quality of eternal reassurance in it, that you may come across four of five times in life. ”

Jay Gatsby � Jordan on Gatsby’s alleged stint at Oxford - “I just don’t think he went there. ” � “young men don’t drift coolly out of nowhere and buy a palace on Long Island Sound. � “He’s a bootlegger” – rumours about the source of Gatsby’s wealth at the start of Chapter 4. � “I am the son of some wealthy people in the Middle West – all dead now. ” � “I wondered if there wasn’t something a little sinister about him, after all. ”

Jay Gatsby � On Wolfsheim – “He’s the man who fixed the World’s Series back in 1919. ” � “Gatsby bought that house so that Daisy would be just across the bay. ” � “Five years next November. ” � His reunion with Daisy – “He literally glowed; without a word or gesture of exultation a new well being radiated from him and filled the little room. ” � Lies about his inherited wealth – “It took me just three years to earn the money that bought it. ”

Jay Gatsby � His true origins - “His parents were shiftless � On Daisy attending one of his parties – “She and unsuccessful farm people. ” didn’t like it. She didn’t have a good time. ” � “Can’t repeat the past? ” He cried incredulously. Why of course you can!” � “I’m going to fix everything just the way it was before. ” � “I wanted somebody who wouldn’t gossip – Daisy comes over quite often – in the afternoons. ”

Jay Gatsby � On Daisy’s child – “I don’t think he had ever really believed in its existence before. ” � “Why not let her alone, old sport? You’re the one that wanted to come to town. � “Your wife doesn’t love you. She’s never loved you. She loves me. ” � “I used to laugh sometimes to think that you didn’t know. ” � Nick on Gatsby’s demeanour during the confrontation with Tom – “Then I turned back to Gatsby and was startled by his expression. He looked as if he had ‘killed a man’ ”.

Jay Gatsby loved me too? � “He rose up to his position in the East. ” � Gatsby’s father- “Do you notice what he’s got about improving his mind? He was always great for that. ” � You

Tom Buchanan � “It was a body capable of enormous leverage – a cruel body. ” � On Nick’s employers – “Never heard of them. ” � “a brute of a man, a great, big, hulking physical specimen. ” � “Tom’s got some woman in New York. ” � “she was less than an hour old and Tom was God knows where. ” � “I think he tanked up a good deal at luncheon, and his determination to have my company bordered on violence. ” � “And if you feel that way about it, maybe I’d better sell it somewhere else after all. ”

Tom Buchanan � “It’s really his wife that’s keeping them apart. She’s a Catholic, and they don’t believe in divorce. ” � “Making a short deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open hand. ” � “I wonder where in the world he met Daisy. By God, I may be old-fashioned in my ideas, but women run around too much to suit me. They meet all kinds of crazy fish. ”

Tom Buchanan � “I was just thinking I don’t know a soul here. ” � “A lot of theses newly rich people are just big bootleggers, you know. ” � “I’d like to know who he is and what he does. And I think I’ll make a point of finding out. ” � “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw. He was astounded. ” � “An Oxford man! Like hell he is! He wears a pink suit. ”

Tom Buchanan � Prelude to the argument with Gatsby in the Plaza Hotel – “The thing to do is to forget about the heat. You make it ten times worse by crabbing about it. ” � “That’s a great expression of yours, isn’t it? ” � “I understand you’re an Oxford man. ” � “What kind of row are you trying to cause in my house anyway? ” � Daisy tries to calm Tom down – “You’re causing a row. Please have a little self-control.

Tom Buchanan � “I suppose the latest thing is to sit back and let Mr Nobody from Nowhere make love to your wife. ” � “I can’t speak about what happened five years ago because I didn’t know Daisy then – and I’ll be damned if I see how you got within a mile of her unless you brought the groceries to the back door. ” � “Daisy loved me when she married me and she loves me now. ”

Tom Buchanan � Attempting to convince Daisy she loved him – “Not that day I carried you down from the Punch Bowl to keep your shoes dry? ” � “They’re things between Daisy and me that you’ll never know, things that neither of us can ever forget. ” � “She’s not leaving me! Certainly not for a common swindler who’d have to steal the ring he put on her finger. ” � “He and this Wolfsheim bought up a lot of sidestreet drugstores here and in Chicago and sold grain alcohol over the counter. ”

Tom Buchanan � “He won’t annoy you. I think he realises that his presumptuous little flirtation is over. ” � “What if I did tell him? That fellow had it coming to him. ” � “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money. ”

Daisy Buchanan � “I’m p-paralysed with happiness. ” � “You remind me of a – of a rose, an absolute rose. ” � “I hope she’ll be a fool – that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool. ” � They’re such beautiful shirts. It makes me sad because I’ve never seen such beautiful shirts before. ” � Nick on Daisy’s reaction to Gatsby’s party – “She was appalled by West Egg. ”

Daisy Buchanan � To Gatsby, before going to the Plaza Hotel – “You know I love you. ” � “You always look so cool. ” � “Her voice is full of money. ” � To Tom, regarding his attitude towards Gatsby - “If you’re going to make personal remarks I won’t stay here a minute. ” � “Oh, you want too much! I love you now – isn’t that enough? ”

Daisy Buchanan � “Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom. It wouldn’t be true. ” � “But with every word she was drawing further and further into herself. ” � “When the phone rang that afternoon and Long Distance said Chicago was calling I thought this would be Daisy at last. ”

Jordan Baker � “I’ve been lying on that sofa for as long as I can remember. ” � “You live in West Egg, ” she remarked contemptuously. ” � “Don’t talk. I want to hear what happens. ” � “She left a borrowed car out in the rain with the top down, and lied about it. ” � “I had heard some story of her too, a critical, unpleasant story. ” � “bored haughty face. ” � “A suggestion that she had moved her ball from a bad lie in the semi-final round. ”

Jordan Baker � “She was incurably dishonest. ” � “She told me without comment that she was engaged to another man. ”

Themes � The impossibility of the American Dream � The corruption of the American Dream � The immorality of the wealthy elite � Social class � The deceptiveness of appearances � The complexity of love

Setting � East v West Egg � Eastern seaboard v Mid West � The Valley of Ashes

Symbolism � East and West Egg � Green light � The eyes of Dr T. J. Eckleburg � The Valley of Ashes � Weather